


Bugging Out

by ericsonclan



Series: We are Monsters, We are Proud AU [26]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Dullahans, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Harpies, Huldras, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:14:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26633434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericsonclan/pseuds/ericsonclan
Summary: An event causes a misunderstanding between Marlon and Sophie.
Relationships: Marlon/Sophie (Walking Dead: Done Running), Renata & Sophie (Walking Dead: Done Running), Renata/Minnie (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Series: We are Monsters, We are Proud AU [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1699969
Kudos: 2





	Bugging Out

**Author's Note:**

> (by Linnea)

Marlon couldn’t wait for lunch time. He nervously tapped his foot against the classroom floor which some of the other monsters found obnoxious but he didn’t care. He just wanted to get through whatever lecture Mr. Everett was going on about and stretch his legs. That and spend lunchtime with Sophie like he promised. He felt his cheeks heating up at the thought of her. How he had gotten a tall, beautiful harpy to be his girlfriend he had no idea but he enjoyed every day that he got to spend with her. He was excited to see her again at lunchtime. _If this stupid clock would move faster,_ Marlon groaned internally as the seconds dripped by slowly. The words of the lecture all blended together to form an incoherent buzzing sound in the dullahan’s ears. But after a while time seemed to be on his side and the bell rang loudly throughout the hallways, signaling that class was done and that lunch had finally arrived. Marlon rose up from his spot, tossing his books haphazardly into his backpack and was about to walk out to find Sophie when all of the sudden Mr. Everett spoke up.

“Marlon, could you stay back for a few minutes?” 

Marlon glanced back at his teacher, a mixture of worry and annoyance bubbling within him. He had a pretty good idea of what he was going to say.

“I just wanted to go over your last history test since it seems like you didn’t do so well,” Mr. Everett slid forward the paper, revealing the poor grade of 43 on it. Marlon felt her heart drop at the sight. His parents were going to be so mad when they saw this. Mr. Everett could see the different emotions battling inside his student's mind. “If you’d like, we can look over it during lunch and with an extra assignment I may be able to raise up your grade.”

Marlon’s eyes shot up and locked with Mr. Everett’s. “Really?” A hopeful smile appeared on the dullahan’s face. “I’d really appreciate that, sir.” This was great. If he got up this grade then his parents wouldn’t be upset with him and make him spend all his free time on the weekends studying. This way he could maybe buy some time before getting a tutor and wouldn’t miss out on any fun dates with Sophie. The realization hit Marlon in an instant; he’d promised to have lunch with Sophie. “Would you mind if I quickly found someone? I promised I’d meet them during lunch and I don’t wanna reschedule with you.”

“Sure, but be back soon,” Mr. Everett took a seat back at his desk and got out some papers to grade and a sandwich to nibble on while he waited. Without another word the dullahan ran off, awkwardly trying to run through the halls without letting his head slide off.

“Sorry, sorry.” Marlon apologized as he bumped into some other monsters. “Shit, sorry!” He called back to a gryphon before sprinting outside. Knowing Sophie she was mostly likely with Minnie, Renata or Violet. Marlon’s eyes scanned the area and quickly picked up on the werewolf who was busy eating her lunch with Prisha, Louis and Clem.

Louis looked up, his eyes brightening when he noticed his best friend, waving excitedly over at the dullahan and patting the empty spot next to him. “Marlon, got a seat for ya!” Louis smiled over at his friend. 

“Sorry, can’t, gotta find Sophie.” Marlon waved back, flashing an apologetic smile before sprinting off. He continued to look around the campus until he decided that maybe his girlfriend was hanging out by the woods nearby. Sprinting forward, he slowly began to make out the shape of Ericson’s most mischievous huldra who seemed to be chanting something and pumping her fist while Sophie had her head lodged in a tree. It seemed bizarre but then again nothing was normal here at Ericson High. He just needed to drop by and tell Sophie he couldn’t have lunch with her. 

“Sophie!” Marlon cupped his hands over his mouth to get his girlfriend’s attention. The harpy’s feathers twitched as she popped her head out of the tree, turning around and revealing a mouth full of bugs. Sophie tried to say something but nearly choked on the bugs in her mouth. Renata chuckled while whacking her best friend on the back. A flurry of bugs flew from Sophie’s mouth and landed on the ground, scurrying away to safety. 

Marlon looked shocked for a moment. He didn’t think harpies could fit that many bugs in their mouths. In fact, he’d never seen Sophie go bug hunting until now. Before he said anything, he glanced down at his watch and swore frantically. It was already cutting deep into his time to look over the test with Mr. Everett. He was getting so anxious about it, his head started to slide off again. “Fuck, shit.” Marlon stumbled around, trying to snatch his head. Letting out a relieved sigh when he caught it, the dullahan gently placed it back over the ghastly vapors whispering from his body. “I can’t have lunch with you today!” Marlon yelled before sprinting off. 

It wasn’t until he was back inside the building that he realized how that had sounded. It had probably come across more harsh than he had intended, especially since he had totally blanked on telling Sophie the reason why. He couldn’t go back and fix it now though. He’d have to wait until he ran into her again and explain that he was just meeting with a teacher. With that thought in mind, Marlon walked briskly through the hallways back to the classroom where Mr. Everett was waiting.

\-----

Sophie felt her heart drop while she watched her boyfriend sprint off. Probably to get as far away from her as he could after he saw that. He was definitely grossed out after seeing all those bugs in her mouth. “Shit,” Sophie coughed sharply, causing a final bug to shoot out of her mouth. “I’m so stupid. Why did I agree to a bug eating contest?” A small, sad tweet escaped the harpy’s lips. 

“Don’t worry, Soph,” Renata placed a hand on her friend’s arm, a confident smile on her face. “I’ll allow a redo. So the hefty sum of zero bugs won’t be your final score.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.” Sophie replied with a pout. Slowly she flew up and embedded her claws into one of the tree’s branches. Allowing her body to swing upside down, she used her arms to hide her face, hoping that the feathers would mask her emotions. 

“Sophie,” the huldra poked her friend’s feathers. “Are you upset that Marlon caught you snacking on bugs?”

“Yes!” Sophie chirped. “He probably thinks I’m some sort of freak! You saw how fast he ran away.”

Renata tilted her head. “Well, I mean his head falls off so he’s weirder than you. Besides, bugs are tasty! So I don’t think it’s a big deal!” 

Sophie peeked her head out from behind her feathers and looked at the bright smile of the huldra. “It’s not a big deal for you because you’re dating someone who eats bugs too!” Sophie twittered sadly. Letting her talons release her grip, she landed on the ground. “I’m not hungry anymore. I’m gonna just get ready for P.E.” Sophie didn’t bother to wait for Renata to say anything. Instead she flew off towards the school. 

\-----

“Are you still sad about yesterday?” Minnie glanced over at Sophie who scratched her talons across the ground as they walked to school.

“Yes,” Sophie mumbled “I’m allowed to be.”

“That’s true.” Renata added, her teeth poking out slightly. “But it’s more fun to focus on the positives.” The huldra’s hand that held Minnie’s swung back and forth happily. “Like this!” The huldra held up a large container. “Omar helped me make lunch for the three of us!”

Sophie glanced over, an excitement dancing in her eyes when she noticed the fried worm sandwich in the container. But it quickly faded away.

“It looks amazing,” Minnie smiled over at her girlfriend who beamed at the praise, her tail curling around her leg. 

“Thank you! I do have some hidden cooking talents of my own!” The huldra declared proudly before pausing. Her eyes grew large for a second. “Oh! I forgot I promised to meet up with someone before class. I’ll see you in fourth period.” Renata got up on her tiptoes and gave Minnie a quick kiss on her cheek, giving her hand one final squeeze before sprinting off. 

A happy crow escaped Minnie’s lips, her feathers standing up from the sheer electricity of the romantic gesture. “I can’t wait for fourth period!” She smiled over at her twin who still seemed down in the dumps. “Come on, Soph,” Minnie grabbed her sister’s hand and pulled her inside. She could tell this was going to be a long day. 

\----

“Who would want to date a big bird?” Sophie faceplanted on the picnic table. A sad chirp emitted from her flat face.

“Well, first off the correct term is ‘harpies’,” Renata placed down the container filled with lunch on the table in front of her, pulling out a rabbit panini and taking a large bite from it. “And I like dating a harpy.” Renata looked up, a warm smile on her face when she noticed Minnie walking over. “It’s the best.”

“Hey,” Minnie slid into the spot next to her girlfriend, grabbing a fried worm sandwich. “I’m so hungry.” She took a bite out of it and let out a happy tweet. “Holy shit! Omar can fucking cook! Gotta get this recipe from him.”

“I made some cookies for dessert too.” Renata did a drumroll before revealing a small bag full of cookies.

Sophie lifted up her head, her stomach growling at all the great food in front of her. “ Can you pass me a sandwich?”

Sure!” Renata tossed over a fried worm sandwich which Sophie caught in her mouth, munching on it with a content smile. She still felt down but she wasn’t going to let that ruin lunch. Happy chirps and excited twitters emitted from Sophie while she devoured the entirety of her sandwich within seconds.

All of a sudden Marlon sat down across from her. The air around the table instantly changed. Sophie felt her mind spin with doubts and was about to get up to leave when Marlon spoke up.

“Sophie, wait!” 

The harpy paused and looked over at Marlon wondering what he was possible going to say or do. Slowly and without a word, the dullahan opened up a bag of gummy worms and shoved a bunch in his mouth. After a few seconds of chewing he swallowed   
the gummy worms with a smile. “Slimy yet satisfying.”

Sophie could tell that Marlon was trying to show he didn’t mind that she ate bugs. She immediately perked up at the thoughtful gesture.

“I’m sorry, Soph. I was meeting with Mr. Everett and I totally gave you the wrong impression. I wasn’t freaked out or anything by you eating all those bugs.”

“Really?” Sophie smiled over at her boyfriend.

“Really?” Renata’s voice caused the others to look over at Renata who had a mischievous smirk on her face. Her tail curled into a question mark. “Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is!” The huldra’s hand rummaged through the lunch bag and revealed another fried worm sandwich. She tossed it in front of the dullahan. “Eating gummies is easy but why not try worms!”

“There was another sandwich!” Sophie’s eyes grew large. “Wait, Marlon, you don’t have to eat that.”

“No, it’s fine.” He took a half of the sandwich and with a deep breath took an enormous bite of it, hoping that it would prove how serious and heartfelt his words were. A loud crunching sound emitted from the sandwich as the dullahan took his time munching down on the bite in his mouth. A contemplative expression appeared on his face while he swallowed. “Hey, these aren’t half bad. But you’d probably enjoy it more than me.” Marlon handed over the remainder of his sandwich to Sophie who gave an excited crow in response.

Lunch continued on with happy and light conversations until the school bell rang. Sophie hopped down from her perch, flying over and landing beside Marlon and taking his hand. “Thanks for being cool about everything.” The harpy placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. The dullahan looked shocked for a second until his vision was thrown off by his head slipping backwards. Luckily Sophie was able to catch it in time. The couple looked at each other and laughed. 

“It was nothing. I’m just glad I cleared up that misunderstanding.” Marlon’s hand swayed in time with Sophie’s. “So, ready for English?”

“Yep! Lead the way!” Sophie and Marlon walked together, talking about what Ms. Sarita would teach today. Both of them smiled and talked animatedly, happy to be spending some time together and glad to have the silly misunderstanding cleared up.


End file.
